The Food Site

I’ve never eaten Vietnamese food before and had no idea what it’s like at all. All I could think of was that it probably has rice and noodles and that’s as far as I could think. I didn’t know if it was spicy like Thai food or pickled like Korean or raw like Japanese. So, I didn’t really suddenly decide to try it out.

It was all those insidous ‘marketing’ by people I know. Every once in a while, I’d hear someone rave on and on about how great the food at Miss Saigon is. So, in the end, we gave in and went there to try for ourselves.

The ambience is good enough, considering it is one of a row of restaurants at E-Gate.

I ordered tea and I like it that they serve it in a mini tea pot and in a thin heart-shaped china cup. Cute.

We took the lazy way out and ordered one of the huge sets for four which practically contained everything from fish to chicken to egg to vegetables to spring rolls. I’ll have to say one thing though, the waiters aren’t local and their English aren’t very good either SO there is plenty of room for misunderstanding. We specifically said we don’t eat beef (due to religious reasons) and told them to replace the beef on this set with something else. Well, it came without the beef although I had suspiciously sniffed at every dark-coloured meat just to be sure.

BUT.

We also ordered a bowl of rice noodles soup.

It came with beef in it. That is despite our repeated reminders that we don’t eat beef! Fortunately, the waiter was kind enough to change it for us after we explained it to him for several painful minutes of gestures and broken English mixed with Bahasa.

We also ordered a plate of rice with grilled chicken for Mr Picky:

Well, I have to say, Vietnamese food is not as strange as I thought it would be although it too has quite a number of beef dishes. Surprisingly, I liked the food there and though not exceptionally good, it passed muster. However, I’d prefer that their waiters learn more English.

Not exactly cheap, mind you, but still, quite reasonably priced.

Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Miss Saigon Restaurant

E-Gate

Tel: 04-3776083

I know, boiled chicken just sound so bland. And boring. And plain. But do read on and you will see that it is not bland, boring or plain. Just look at it…

Far from being boring, it is so flavourful that the remaining sauces from the boiled chicken is pure neat chicken stock. Talk about a two in one dish! And yes, this dish is pretty healthy as it involved loads of vegetables and no deep frying to be seen!

Chicken Recipes: Five Spice Boiled Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 chicken, chopped into small pieces

2 tbsp five spice powder

2 tsp salt

2 carrots, cut into chunks

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 large tomato, cubed

4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, cubed

2 pods garlic

2 cups water

Instructions

1. Season the chicken with the five spice powder and 1 tsp of salt for at least an hour.

2. Heat up the pot of water and then dump all the ingredients in and the rest of the salt.

3. Lower the heat and let it simmer partially covered for up to an hour. By then, you’d get a very thick sort of ‘gravy’ and you can dish out the chicken and vegetables.

If you noticed, I didn’t remove the chicken skin. I felt that by not removing the skin, it gave even more flavors to the chicken stock. Although a bit oily, I’m quite fine with it.

If you have a crock pot / slow cooker, it is even easier. Just dump everything in, set it at low and leave it on overnight and you’ll get tender chicken with absolutely wonderful gravy and chicken stock.

Just remember to set aside some of the gravy as chicken stock to be used in your cooking.

See? Boiled chicken aren’t all that bland after all and it even produced a great by-product of chicken stock!